Marysville police investigate suspicious death after body found in yard waste bin

A woman’s body was found inside a yard waste bin on the 5700 block of Grove Street in Marysville after a resident noticed the container was unusually heavy and opened it during collection cleanup. Bob Stocks made the discovery around 5 p.m. on April 29, turning a routine neighborhood chore into a homicide investigation.

Marysville police said the death was suspicious and were treating it as a possible homicide. Early reporting described the victim as a woman believed to be in her 20s, but her name had not been publicly released. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office was expected to identify her and notify next of kin.

Investigators said there were no obvious signs of trauma at the scene, but they moved quickly into a homicide-oriented probe because of where and how the body was found. The discovery, in a closed yard waste container rather than in an open public space, left detectives with a basic but crucial question: how did the woman get into the bin, and when?

Police were still working to build that timeline and asked anyone with information to contact detectives at 360-363-8378. Local coverage placed the scene near 74th Street Northeast and the Cedar House Apartments area, giving investigators a specific residential stretch to examine for witnesses, security cameras, and movement around the time of pickup.

The setting also highlighted how ordinary the chain of events was before the case turned disturbing. The City of Marysville contracts recycling and yard waste collection with Waste Management Northwest, and yard waste service is optional for residential customers. City instructions tell residents to place bins at the curb by 5:00 a.m. on collection day, then leave them accessible for pickup, which helps explain why a resident would be handling the container after service. Marysville’s Public Works Solid Waste Division serves about 22,500 homes and hauls about 2,300 tons of garbage each month.

That normal collection pattern now sits at the center of a criminal investigation. With the victim still unidentified in early reports, no visible trauma noted at the scene, and detectives keeping details tightly guarded, the case remained in its earliest phase but already carried the weight of a possible homicide.